Many hands plant many trees

Image by kzulo

I've got a confession... I had never planted a tree until today. I've been meaning to go to an organised tree planting for years, but some reason always came up not to. Today I didn't have a decent excuse, so I dragged Hayden out to the Chelsea Estate Heritage Park in Birkenhead. It's a lovely place. There's lots of greenery and a great view back over to the city. I couldn't believe how many other volunteers had turned up to help plant trees. There must have been over a hundred people, from pre-schoolers to white-haired veterans. Equipped with a borrowed spade and a pot of fertiliser tablets, we joined the fray. The organisers had laid out hundreds of baby trees where they wanted them planted, and they basically let us loose on them. The young ones were having a grand time examining worms their Dads dug up and helping dish out the fertiliser tablets. The pre-teen boys competed over who could plant the most trees. The senior members worked diligently. Hayden dug holes and I put trees in them. It turned out I was too much of a weakling to dig the holes - pretty embarrassing when there were loads of ten year old boys at it with gusto! Everyone was having such a great time. You could sense the disappointment in the air when we ran out of trees to plant! As everyone stood around afterwards enjoying a barbequed sausage in bread and a cuppa, I overheard some of the old timers talking about how blown away they were by the excellent turnout. It seems community tree planting is on the up and up. I'll definitely be back next time. Here are just five reasons to attend a community tree planting:

1. You'll meet some lovely locals.
2. You can get your hands dirty and get excited about uncovering worms, beetles and lizards as you dig. Who me, a big kid?
3. You'll feel all warm inside for having contributed to the future of your community.
4. You can "adopt" one of the trees and come back to check on its progress in a few months' time. You can even make up names for them. We christened our finest specimens Trevor, Murray and Harold.
5. It will keep the kids entertained for an hour or two. If you don't have kids, borrow someone else's for the day. They'll love you for it (but not as much as their parents!)

Chocolate bad for more than your waistline

Image by nkzs

Specifically, I mean Cadbury's new formula. If you're a Kiwi you might have seen the new Whittakers' ad, which highlights the nasties of Cadbury's latest formulation (and if not you can check it out on their website). They've reduced the size, the cocoa content and the cocoa butter content, and production now happens offshore. This means we now get less choc for our buck, and what we do get is lower quality. And, apart from selfish concerns, the changes are bad news for the environment too. The shift of production from the iconic Dunedin base to Aussie means more food miles. But, probably more concerning is what they've replaced the cocoa butter with. The ingredient list discloses only "vegetable fat", but word on the street is that palm oil is the new secret ingredient. Palm oil production has had a huge impact on the eco-systems of developing countries such as Indonesia, Borneo and Malaysia. Rainforests have been cut down at an alarming pace to make way for palm oil plantations. The result is a massive decrease in biodiversity in the affected areas, and the destruction of habitats. The poster animal for the ill-effects of palm oil production is the orangutan. The risk to the already endangered orangutan is so great that Auckland Zoo decided to cease stocking Cadbury products when the changes were announced. Rainforest destruction also affects many other animals, birds, insects and plants besides the orangutan.

There are many other brands of chocolate to choose from, even at the supermarket. I've sworn off Cadbury until they clean up their act - will you? And why not sign an online petition to make sure Cadbury gets the message loud and clear?